Beau Bridges (born Lloyd Vernet Bridges III on December 9, 1941 in Los Angeles, California), is an American actor. He is the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Dean Simpson. He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes' son in Gone with the Wind, the title of the book they were reading at the time. Bridges is also the older brother of actor Jeff Bridges, born in 1949. Their sister, Cindy, was born in 1950.

In 1949, Bridges played a secondary juvenile role in the movie The Red Pony, for which he received good billing. Wanting to be a basketball star, however, he played his freshmen year at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and later transferred to the University of Hawai`i. Realizing his height was holding him back from excelling in basketball, however, he dropped out of school to continue acting instead.

Bridges enjoys playing guitar (as does his brother), collects Native American percussion instruments, loves the ocean (such as swimming and surfing), and is also active in handgun control and environmental protection.

In 2001, he guest-starred as Daniel McFarland, the stepfather of Jack McFarland, in two episodes of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace.

In January 2005, he was cast as Major General Hank Landry, the new commander of Stargate Command in Stargate SG-1, succeeding Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, played by Richard Dean Anderson. He has also played the character in two episodes of the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis.

In November 2005, he guest-starred as Earl's Dad, in the hit US Comedy My Name is Earl